At
the age of 28, I gave birth to my first
son. I was very healthy and
active during the pregnancy. I
prided myself on how well I kept up with
regular exercises, good nutrition and
a positive mental outlook. Being
a doctor, I read everything I needed
to know about childbirth and felt very
well prepared for my home birth. After
the birth, I realized there were many
things the books did not cover and many
subjects deemed "taboo" to
speak about. These subjects were urinary
and fecal incontinence (loss of control
of the bowels), loss of pelvic floor
tone, perineum swelling and breast engorgement. I
had watched hundreds of baby stories
and Discovery health shows and not one
mention of the fact that the damage path
would resemble an F-5 twister.

During pregnancy,
the urinary tract undergoes extensive
anatomical and physiological changes. These
changes can result in many symptoms and
pathological conditions that may affect
the mother and fetus. Most women
notice an increased need to urinate.
This is a result of the weight placed
on the bladder by the growing placenta
and fetus, as well as numerous circulatory
changes including the increased workload
placed on the kidneys. The mother's
body must deal with a doubling in blood
volume, hormonal water gain and extra
toxins in the blood from not only the
products of metabolism from the fetus,
but from the increased metabolic changes
from the mother. Some women notice
increased urinary tract infections as
well as yeast infections.

During
delivery, childbirth may result in urinary
tract damage due to excessive tearing
anywhere along the birth canal, damage
to the bladder neck which lies above
the pubic bone (the infamous site of
crowning), episiotomy (incision to make
the vaginal opening wider), forcept delivery
(which can be traumatic to both the mother
and fetus) and any other excessive force
applied to the mother such as manual
turning of the baby at the time of shoulder
birth or breech turning.

After
delivery, there can be a significant
amount of swelling and peripheral nerve
damage which may hinder the woman's ability
to urinate, urinate completely or even
sense the need to urinate. Tears
can be come infected, and urinary tract
infections can spread to anywhere in
the pelvis. Tearing may require
stitches which can become infected and
can result in scarring, loss of sensation
or be a chronic source of pain.

Urinary
incontinence includes not only the effects
of pelvic floor trauma on urethrovesical
mobility under stress, but also a deficiency
in urethral resistance caused by drugs,
such as prostaglandins. Prostaglandins,
by definition is a class of physiologically
active substances present in many tissues,
with effects such as vasodilation, vasoconstriction,
and uterine stimulation. Prostaglandins
play a role in initiation of labor and
are produced by the body naturally. In
induced labor, Prostaglandins may be
administered in excess to physiological
norm, creating an excess of inflammation
in the pelvic region.

Finally,
breast engorgement and mastitis (inflammation
of the milk ducts) are all too common
in first pregnancies because women are
simply not fully educated on breast feeding. In
order for the milk to come in (about
48 hours after birth), blood vessels
must swell and become leaky in order
to deliver substances as well as fluids
to the milk ducts. Most women will
tell you that their breasts become painful
and swollen, just prior to milk production. Engorgement
is excessive swelling of the breast and
can sometimes create plugged milk ducts.
Plugged milk ducts are more painful than
childbirth itself and may result in bursting
of the milk duct which would require
a hospital visit. Mastitis is inflammation
of a milk duct and can sometimes lead
to infection which in very unfortunate
cases can result in surgical removal
of the breast.

So what
can a woman do to prevent all of the
above complications as a result of varying
degrees of inflammation?

Systemic
oral Enzymes.
After the birth of my first son, I had "All
of the above" I was told that
this is the consequence of childbirth,
I would never be normal again and just
do Keigle exercises.

Was
I to accept that being a marathon runner,
I would forever have to wear Depends
or be forced to seek out various bushes
and trees on a wooded trail? In
researching the subject, I came across
literature on systemic enzymes and sports
injuries, and as far as I am concerned,
this was a sports injury. I began taking
a popular enzyme but it had only little
effect on my condition until I began
taking 30-40 tablets a day. It
became very expensive. Two and
one half years after the birth of my
son, I was introduced to Systemic Enzymes. I
began taking 10 capsules per day and
after six weeks, I stopped urinating
when I ran. I continued taking
the enzyme until I became pregnant with
my second child. I was afraid to take
anything during pregnancy, but researching
the fact that the enzyme was all natural,
I decided to take it until my 8th month. I
had no swelling, no varicose veins, no
urinary infections or yeast infections
and ran the whole pregnancy. I
decided to take myself off the enzyme
in the last month to allow my natural
prostglandins to rise, as well as allowing
for the natural clotting mechanism to
occur post partum because enzymes thin
the blood naturally. After the
birth, I was able to urinate almost immediately
and when the midwife inspected me after
the delivery of the placenta, she commented
on how I did not even look like I gave
birth. There was no swelling and
no tearing. My stomach was flat
within a few days as well. All
of the problems I had with the first
pregnancy, were non existent with this
one. I figured I would tear along the
area where there was scar tissue from
the first, but the midwife could not
find the scar from the first. The
enzyme must have taken care of that too!

My
breasts became engorged 48 hours later
and I developed a few plugged ducts.
I fed, pumped used cabbage and even succumbed
to Ibuprophen which is horrible for the
baby. I was in so much pain but
I wanted to wait until 5 days after birth
so I could properly heal. On the
fifth day I took 5 capsules 3 times per
day and within 48 hours the inflammation
and plugged ducts were gone, not to mention
I was producing nearly 32 oz of milk
in a 24 hour period. I am the extreme
case for inflammation and If I had not
had the enzyme, I may very well have
been one of those hospital cases. The
enzyme is much safer for me and my baby
than drugs. I also noticed that
my baby did not develop any skin conditions
such as cradle cap or ecema. She
also did not develop any type of digestive
disorders or excessive gas.

As for
myself, 10 days after birth I went for
a run, with little incontinence. Now,
four weeks after the birth, the incontinence
is still going away, and my pelvic floor
muscles are strengthening a little each
day.

Although
experiments would never allow studies
on pregnant humans, use of systemic oral
enzymes for pregnancy and post-partum
complications may reveal some interesting
uses.

If enzymes
decline at or around age 27, then perhaps
loading up on enzymes before an intended
later in life pregnancy may reduce some
age-related complications. See
Oct. 2003 Newsletter on aging.

Enzymes
may repair damage to the body from previous
injuries as well as strengthen existing
systems such as organs and blood vessels. This
may prevent varicose veins, hemoroids,
hernias, larger degree tears, organ damage
and pre-eclamsia through mechanisms of
reducing kidney fibrosis. See Sept
2003 newsletter.

Secondary
ramifications are improved psychological
aspects because less pain, damage to
the body and a quicker recovery and help
a woman feel like her old self. With
lack of sleep and hormonal fluctuations,
this may help reduce some of the effects
of post partum depression.

Systemic
Enzymes and their anti-inflammatory modulation
may help increase womens awareness of
these taboo problems and help other
women to seek alternatives and not just
to accept this as the norm, as I was
instructed.

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